August 23rd, 2011
04:06 PM ET

Earthquake shuts down Virginia nuclear plant

An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 5.9 struck Tuesday afternoon near Washington, D.C., the U.S. Geological Survey said.

The epicenter was in Mineral, Virginia. The quake was four miles deep, according to the USGS. Did you feel it? Send CNN an iReport.

To get complete coverage and all the latest updates, click on CNN's main story here. View a CNN Open Story about the quake. CNN Open Story combines iReports with reports from CNNers across the globe on a map and timeline.

Update 3:36 p.m. ET: Terminal A at Washington Reagan National Airport has been evacuated because of an odor of gas, airport spokeswoman Courtney Mickalonis said. Initial sweeps of the building showed no major damage from the earthquake.

Light structural damage has been reported in Culpepper and Orange counties in Virginia, said Laura Southard of the state Emergency Operations Center. She said there have been no reports of injuries in Virginia.

Update 3:28 p.m. ET: The White House and adjacent buildings evacuated as a precaution following the earthquake have been given the all-clear, the U.S. Secret Service said. The FBI and Justice Department have also reopened evacuated buildings.

Update 3:25 p.m. ET: East Coast residents should be prepared to feel aftershocks from Tuesday's earthquake, a U.S. Geological Survey official said.

Update 3:22 p.m. ET: The North Anna nuclear power plant, located 20 miles from the epicenter, is shut down and in a safe condition, a company official and the Louisa County public information office report. There has been no release of nuclear material, Louisa County spokeswoman Amanda Reidelbach said.

Update 3:04 p.m. ET: All national monuments and parks in Washington are "stable but closed" following Tuesday's earthquake, a United States Park Police spokesman Sgt. David Schlosser said. A couple of minor injuries and some minor structural damage have been reported in Washington, following Tuesday's earthquake, according to Schlosser.

Part of the central tower of the National Cathedral, the highest point in Washington, was damaged, according to spokesman Richard Weinberg. "It looks like three of the pinnacles have broken off the central tower," Weinberg told CNN.

Update 3:02 p.m. ET: Amtrak is reporting service disruptions between Washington and Baltimore because of the earthquake, the company reported on Twitter.

Aftershocks are a concern, U.S. Geological Survey seismologist Lucy Jones told CNN. "People should be expecting (them), especially over the next hour or two," she said.

The quake was felt in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; New York City and on Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, where President Barack Obama is vacationing. It's unknown if the president felt the quake.

The Pentagon has been evacuated, CNN's Barbara Starr reports. "When the building began shaking rather violently, hundreds of people began streaming out," she said, because many people thought that the building was under attack. Starr was standing in the Pentagon's press office when the roof started to shake.

Cell phone service has been disrupted in New York City, CNN learned within minutes of the quake.

Updated 2:47 p.m. ET: A "considerable amount" of water from a water pipe has flooded two corridors of the Pentagon, according to an announcement in the building. People who work in those areas are being asked to stay in their offices while workers try to repair the damage.

The National Cathedral in Washington is damaged, CNN has confirmed.

And Dominion Generation, which operates the North Anna nuclear power station in central Virginia a few miles from the epicenter of the earthquake, is trying to reach operational staff at the plant, according to a company spokesman. Landlines to the plant appear to be down.

Shortly after the quake struck, traders in the New York Stock Exchange also felt the quake and shouted to each other, "Keep trading!" CNN's business correspondent Alison Kosik reported from the floor at 2:20 p.m. E.T.

Twitter traffic suggests the quake was felt all over the East Coast.

In Philadelphia, HunterPence3 tweeted, "Wow Earthquake just shook the entire locker room!"

In Cleveland, "tribeinsider" wrote "I'm no expert but i think we just had an earthquake here."

And even in Toronto, Canada, tweets said that the shaking could be felt for minutes.

Pete Krech, who works at a business in Fredericksburg, Virginia, likened the sensation to being on a jolting amusement ride. "I was receiving a supply truck," said Krech, store manager at Mattress Warehouse of Fredericksburg, south of Washington. "I felt a vibration under my feet."

Brendan Wein, a sales representative at Hoffman Nursery in Roxboro, North Carolina, said he thought there was a helicopter flying above his work building.  "I was literally shaking in my chair," he said.

CNN iReporter Jeff Yapalater said he was in his backyard in New York's Long Island when the earthquake hit. "Suddenly I felt this light swaying of the Earth. I'd never felt that before, so I thought maybe I was experiencing vertigo for a moment, and it lasted maybe 30 seconds ... We're feeling this really far away!" he wrote.

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Filed under: District of Columbia • Earthquake • Natural Disasters • Virginia
soundoff (12,567 Responses)
  1. Diana Long

    felt in Fayetteville,NC

    August 23, 2011 at 2:13 pm | Report abuse |
  2. Steph

    We got it in northern NJ as well

    August 23, 2011 at 2:13 pm | Report abuse |
    • jay

      made it all the way to springfield ma

      August 23, 2011 at 2:15 pm | Report abuse |
    • KMS

      Felt it in Erie, PA

      August 23, 2011 at 2:15 pm | Report abuse |
    • Addie

      Felt it in upper SC, Spartanburg.

      August 23, 2011 at 2:15 pm | Report abuse |
    • Greg

      Felt a little ground shaking here in GA about 15 mins ago.

      August 23, 2011 at 2:15 pm | Report abuse |
    • Emily

      Felt it on Cape Cod, MA

      August 23, 2011 at 2:16 pm | Report abuse |
    • Fiona

      we felt it here in Stmford, CT!!
      Fiona

      August 23, 2011 at 2:16 pm | Report abuse |
    • Tom

      Felt it in Randolph NJ

      August 23, 2011 at 2:16 pm | Report abuse |
    • Shawne

      We felt it outside of Charlotte!

      August 23, 2011 at 2:17 pm | Report abuse |
    • Ella McMillan

      We felt it in Pinehurst NC

      August 23, 2011 at 2:17 pm | Report abuse |
    • bones435

      we felt it up here in Syracuse NY

      August 23, 2011 at 2:17 pm | Report abuse |
    • George

      We felt it bad in Richmond.

      August 23, 2011 at 2:17 pm | Report abuse |
    • Jamie

      We felt it in Rock Hill, SC – the whole bldg was shaking!!!

      August 23, 2011 at 2:18 pm | Report abuse |
    • Joe

      Toronto felt it

      August 23, 2011 at 2:18 pm | Report abuse |
    • Patb

      Ditto for Doylestown, PA 1:50 PM

      August 23, 2011 at 2:19 pm | Report abuse |
    • Roger

      We felt here in Northeast Toronto, Ontario!!!!

      August 23, 2011 at 2:19 pm | Report abuse |
    • Shirley

      Believe it or not, I was laying out by my pool and felt the movement and wondered what the heck is going on. So yeah, West Milford (near Clarksburg, West Virginia) felt the shake also.

      August 23, 2011 at 2:19 pm | Report abuse |
    • Kirk

      We felt it here in Hagerstown, MD. About 30 seconds.

      August 23, 2011 at 2:19 pm | Report abuse |
    • MS

      Was on a boat in the Chesapeake and you could hear it first, then the docks and pilings all shook back and forth.......

      August 23, 2011 at 2:20 pm | Report abuse |
    • Dave

      Felt it in Grand Island, NY. Just a little shake at about 1:53PM

      August 23, 2011 at 2:20 pm | Report abuse |
    • Lisa

      Hillsborough NJ felt it. Everything on my desk was moving and shaking. Never felt anything like that before!

      August 23, 2011 at 2:22 pm | Report abuse |
    • Scott

      Felt it in Atlanta, GA (Buckhead)...PC monitor, etc. was shaking on the desk

      August 23, 2011 at 2:23 pm | Report abuse |
    • Sunil Singh

      We felt the earthquake IN Toronto at 2:02 pm EST ... my computer was shaking for about 30 seconds. All is well in Canada. One point we do not have socialized medicine in Canada, Canadians have the best medical service without paying extra and depending on severity of each case their is little or no wait times at the emergency room. The American media WRONGLY portrays Canada health system as SOCIALIST – that is the biggest propoganda and HOGWASH since the American Revolution.

      August 23, 2011 at 2:24 pm | Report abuse |
  3. Jack

    We felt in NJ Hamilton too.. ðŸ™

    August 23, 2011 at 2:13 pm | Report abuse |
    • Anna ~ RandomHandprints.com

      yep, another person in new jersey who felt the earthquake – first time for that, very odd!

      August 23, 2011 at 2:19 pm | Report abuse |
    • Judith White

      ditto in Michigan about 2:00 p.m.

      August 23, 2011 at 2:20 pm | Report abuse |
  4. JayMan

    Dayton, OH felt it. Although I'm pretty high up in a building too, the people down below didn't really feel it.

    August 23, 2011 at 2:13 pm | Report abuse |
  5. Betty Stroud

    Kinston North Carolina felt the quake....Our building moved

    August 23, 2011 at 2:13 pm | Report abuse |
  6. Lindsey

    I could feel it up here in Canada, Southern Ontario

    August 23, 2011 at 2:13 pm | Report abuse |
  7. Karl

    felt it in Derry,Pa thought my garage was coming down

    August 23, 2011 at 2:13 pm | Report abuse |
  8. Jamie

    Felt it in Towson, MD. Whole office building shook. Scary.

    August 23, 2011 at 2:13 pm | Report abuse |
  9. Tracy

    Felt it here in RI

    August 23, 2011 at 2:13 pm | Report abuse |
  10. Brian

    Felt in Paintsville, KY... picture frames rattled on walls.

    August 23, 2011 at 2:13 pm | Report abuse |
  11. JKell

    Columbus, OH felt the quake as well

    August 23, 2011 at 2:13 pm | Report abuse |
  12. brandon

    felt in morgantown WV, kinda sketchy too when your on the top of a 9 story tower

    August 23, 2011 at 2:13 pm | Report abuse |
  13. Gina Miller

    Felt it at the Jersey Shore – Cape May County

    August 23, 2011 at 2:13 pm | Report abuse |
  14. izzy

    that eathqake mustv been big yo

    August 23, 2011 at 2:13 pm | Report abuse |
  15. Stacey

    I work in a high rise building in Connecticut. The buiilding shook. I've been in three quakes in California so I knew immeditately that the shaking was a quake. My co-workers are terrified. People are nervous but we have not been evacuated from the building.

    August 23, 2011 at 2:13 pm | Report abuse |
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